Annual Art Salon, Helsinki, 1999
In 1999, I participated in the Annual Art Salon in Helsinki, organized by the Artists’ Association of Finland. The exhibition, held annually for artists living in Finland, marked its 104th edition that year.
My work Yksi kaikkien ja kaikki yhden puolesta (One for All and All for One) was selected for the exhibition. The work addressed masculinity and forms of brotherhood that define themselves through exclusion—an inward-facing circle resistant to change an inward-facing brotherhood, hardened over time into a closed and fossilized structure.
As a contextual note, the exhibition that year was nearly gender-balanced, with 39 women and 36 men participating. The oldest exhibiting artist was 73 years old and the youngest 23. In total, 709 artists submitted works to the jury.